Unconscious bursts of creativity that engender significant artistic endeavors are not necessarily inspired by passionate romantic love alone. Greek mythology believed that this kind of stimulus came from nine muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. Muses were long considered the source of knowledge embodied in poetry, lyric songs and ancient myths. Throughout the history of Western art, artists, writers and musicians have prayed to the muses, or alternately, drawn inspiration from personified muses that conceptually reside beyond the borders of earthly love. True to life, however, composer inspiration has emerged from the entire spectrums of existence and being. Nature has always played a decidedly important role in the inspiration of various classical composers, as did exotic cities, landscapes or rituals. Composer inspiration is also found in poetry, the visual arts, and mythological stories and tales. Artistic, historical or cultural expressions of the past are just as inspirational as is the everyday: the third Punic War or the contrapuntal mastery of Bach is inspirationally just as relevant as are the virulent bat and camel. Composer inspiration is delightfully drawn from heroes and villains, scientific advances, a pet, or something as mundane as a hangover. Discover what fires the imagination of people who never stop asking questions.
The pianist Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941) was a favorite with concert audiences but not universally beloved by music critics. In the event, Paderewski was much more than just a rich, irresistibly handsome, wild-haired composer and musician whose concerts generated a level
In folklore, mythical creatures fulfill the worlds our imaginations create: trolls in the underworld, mermaids in the water, and unicorns in the forests and fields. We’ll start in the underworld. One of the most famous trolls in music comes from
The Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) carried the nickname “The Scholarly Virtuoso.” That nickname is hardly surprising as Szigeti authored a number of books. Among them, we find a pedagogical treatise addressing technical challenges and innovations in twentieth-century repertoire, and
Created between 1501 and 1504, Michelangelo’s “David” is perhaps the most famous statue in Florence, if not in the world. When it was finished, “no other artwork, modern or ancient, Greek or Latin, is equal to it in any respect,
Francis Poulenc completed his 15 improvisations for piano in 1959 with No. 15 in C minor, subtitled “L’hommage à Édith Piaf.” Although dedicated to Edith Piaf, it is not known whether Poulenc and Piaf actually met, though they had friends
Here is our little quiz for today. What is possibly the largest wind instrument in the world? I am sure you can immediately think of a number of vast instruments, the Wagner tuba, the ophicleide, the Alphorn, or some enormous
The famed Irish playwright, critic, and political activist George Bernard Shaw sent a personal letter to Jascha Heifetz after hearing a performance. He writes, “Your recital has filled me and my wife with anxiety. If you provoke a jealous God
Most people who read Dante’s La Divina Commedia love the first part of the trilogy, like the second, and often abandon the whole enterprise when they get to Paradise. The evil is just more interesting, somehow. Dante’s object lessons in
